Sourdough Starter Primer
If you’re just getting started (no pun intended!) on your sourdough journey, you’ve come to the right place! I received my initial sourdough starter from folks that maintain the strain that originated on the Oregon Trail! Now, there’s much discussion on whether or not the starter still has any remaining remnants of bacterium colonies of yore, since it’s fed and replaced regularly, but I feel DNA is DNA, and it’s tiny and prolific!
This dry starter that you hold is one I began feeding and caring for 7 years ago. Sometimes I would feed it regularly, and other times it would sleep in my fridge until I had time to bake. Now, it’s fired up every morning, and it’s got siblings in other jars too! By the way, my starter’s name is Fern, in honor of the lady that lived in our current house. From all accounts, she was a terrrific woman, and I tip my hat to her.
This is often a stall-out for people embarking on their sourdough journey. It seems like a lot of work, but in reality, it’s just like priming an engine before you start it up. Feeding your starter is quick, and allows you to have a starter you can use regularly. That’s the beauty of sourdough: you don’t have to feed and tend it every day for it to be vibrant and useful when you’re ready to bake! It just needs the warmth of your home, flour and water to get going again! It’s just needs priming!
- A tall jar with a non-metal lid. Straight edge jars work great because during feedings and removing starter, you can easily scrape the sides with a spatula.
- Spatula or long spoon.
- Strong flour. This starter has been fed a diet of locally milled organic whole wheat that is not bleached or enriched. You don’t need this kind of flour for baking your bread (all-purpose works just fine), but for feeding and keeping your starter strong and resilient, the best flour is the best food.
- Distilled, spring or untreated. The reason for this is treated city water, or water softeners in homes will contain things like chlorine and other agents that impede your starter’s development. Same goes for the bread, when you start making it. If you have city water, you can put it out uncovered on a counter for a few days and the agents will evaporate, but the ease of a bottle of water might be helpful.
- A link to conversions of teaspoons/tablespoons to grams. Weighing in grams is *way* more accurate, and while you don’t have to have a scale, it sure is useful!
The Steps to Feeding
You have in your hands an active starter that is just sleeping. What you’re doing now is waking it up so it can get to work and be a key ingredient is some of the best bread you’ll ever bake!
- Get a small bowl or jar and measure out 5 grams of dehydrated sourdough starter with 15 grams of 80 °F – 100 degree high quality (I use only distilled) clean water. If it’s too hot, it can kill your starter!
- Cover and let sit for about 2 hours, or until it appears the starter is dissolved.
- Now the actually feeding! Gently stir in 15 grams of your high quality flour and 15 grams of warm (less than 100 degree) distilled water.
- Cover and leave in an area out of direct sunlight for 12-15 hours. If your place is very cool, find a warm spot. It thrives in areas of 78°F or so.
- Day Two: Your starter is ready to snack again! Add 10g of flour and 10g of water, stir, cover and leave again for 12-15 hours. You might have seen some bubbles on the surface, and that’s a great sign. If you didn’t, it’s okay; it’s just a little sleepy!
- Day Three: You’ll repeat everything from the previous day. At this point you should notice a few bubbles on the surface. That’s what you’re going for.
- Day Four: You’ll likely see signs of activity now. Your starter will have risen since yesterday, and you will see bubbles and slight mounding. This means your starter is fermenting! Yay!Now it’s time to feed, but with a bit of a change. Remove all but 15 gms of your starter, and add 30gms of flour and 30gms of water, and stir, cover and leave for the regular 12-15 hours. (What you’ve removed is called “discard”, and just Google for tons of ways to put that to use. DON’T put it down your drain, because it can harden in your pipes!)
- Day Five: Your starter should be well on its way, and hopefully it’s doubled or maybe even tripled in size. From now on, it’s pretty much discard, feed, repeat, however, if it’s sluggish, here are some tips:
– Check in the a.m. and p.m. and feed without discard, but with a lower amount of water
– Make sure it’s not so cold as to stunt your starter
– Change the type or water or flour you’re using and note any difference - Day Six and on: Once your starter is fluffed up a few hours after feeding, you’ll know it’s ready for use! Simply feed it in the morning, and wait a few hours and check to see if it’s bubbling, and get ready to bake! Don’t want to bake? Put your starter in the fridge and pull it out when you do.
Baking a Loaf of Sourdough
There are SO many out there, but this is a recipe I love using. It was the first one I started using and is often a go-to, however I have modified my process a bit, and regularly experiment to reach just the right balance for the type of results I seek. Keep in mind there are so many factors that can impact the way your starter performs, and how well it holds up for you when you start making your bread. Having a strong starter is what helps loafs get the height, crust and crumb formation a good sourdough embodies. Time, temperature, ingredients, humidity; these things can all be adjusted to help yours thrive.
Parting note: Don’t overlook your discard! also is a useful by-product, so Google “sourdough discard recipes” and you’ll find plenty of ways to use it, versus dumping in the trash. Personally, I don’t really discard because my jars are large enough to house my starters’ growth, but I do regularly pull discard to use in other recipes.
Experiment, enjoy, and I wish you baking success! Connect with me on Instagram and Facebook, so we can observe each other’s work!
Is it a typo to only feed it flour on day 1 (after the 2 hour period) instead of both flour and water? It made mine turn thick and into a dough. Going to let it sit 12 hours now but I’m concerned.
My apologies, yes! But your starter will be fine.. 15 gms flour, 15 gms of warm (80-100 degree) water. I prefer distilled because there are no extra minerals, chlorine, etc. Just add the water and give a mix. Don’t worry; starter is so forgiving, and again sorry for that omission! Brain working faster than my fingers typing, but I’ve edited the post!